US, Russia to re-enter New START nuke talks

Signaling a rare breakthrough at a moment that direct communications are almost non-existent, the US has confirmed this week that talks with Russia will move forward on maintenance and renewal of the single existing nuclear treaty between the two sides. In early August, Russia formally notified the Biden administration that it suspected inspections of its nuclear arsenal under the terms of the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price announced that New START will be focus of bilateral talks in the near future. “We have agreed that the BCC [Bilateral Consultative Commission] will meet in the near future under the terms of the New START Treaty. The work of the BCC is confidential, but we do hope for a constructive session,” he said in a Tuesday press briefing.

The last meeting of the BCC was over a year ago, on October 2021, with central aspects of the treaty since stalled due to attempts of the US to resume nuclear arsenal inspections on Russian soil, which Moscow rebuffed.

[The timing on this is curious, given Putin’s nuclear threats as well as his invasion of Ukraine in violation of a previous nuclear non-proliferation agreement. — Ed]